Swimming Part 2

Rebekah finished another two-week session of swim lessons, and we are finished for the summer. This second session was quite a bit harder than the first. First of all, she had a new instructor to whom she had to learn to adjust, and secondly, the challenges were harder and put Rebekah out of her comfort zone. I had originally asked for Ms. Sandy, Rebekah's instructor from June, but she was unavailable due to personal issues, so Rebekah had to adjust to a new coach. Although Christina is gentle, she made Rebekah do a little more on her own the first day which scared her a lot. Rebekah was terrified to get into the pool, but after a talk with Christina and the director I felt much better, and Christina was able to work with Rebekah and help her through her fears.

On the first day Rebekah was afraid of swimming with a noodle wrapped around her chest and under her arms, but by the end of the first week she loved it! It became her favorite part of swim lessons. They also worked a lot on floating. While Rebekah never got to the point of floating on her own, at least for more than 6 seconds, much less 30 seconds for the required mastery of the level, she did make slow progress over the course of the 8 lessons. She did become more accustomed to lying on her back and relaxing in the water and would even do so only holding Christina's fingers at times.

While Rebekah was receiving her private instruction Joshua and I enjoyed some time in the pool as well. He and I participated in the Mommy & Me class the first week on Monday and Wednesday. On Tuesday and Thursday as well as a couple days the following week we just got in the pool together and practiced what he was learning. They ended up canceling the class since we were the only participants, but what little classes we received helped us to work on skills.

Joshua is doing really well reaching for and grabbing the wall. I can then grab one of his hands and he will reach over and give me his other hand while I stand a distance away from the wall. This was one of the skills Rebekah learned the first day of her lessons, so Joshua is preparing for next year. We have been working on him "falling" in the water (i.e. me pulling him in the water) and he flips over on his back. He is automatically flipping over on his own, although he is not floating yet and is not comfortable lying on his back for any period of time. Joshua is also working on reaching and pulling as well as kicking, although he's not doing them simultaneously yet.

I wish I had some video and pics to share of Joshua, but I did manage to get some of Rebekah her last two days of lessons. Although she has a way to go to reach that third level I am so proud of the progress she made. A big part of it is just becoming more comfortable in the water and not panicking so much.

Swimming with the noodle. This first pic Rebekah is swimming to, reaching for, and grabbing a toy.


Blowing bubbles




Learning to float




The very last day Rebekah slid down the slide. She took a while, scooting down slowly, until she finally fell all the way into the pool.

Swimming Video

On Tuesday and today I captured some video of Rebekah swimming during her lessons. This gives a good idea of what she has learned to do over the course of two weeks. As you will see she is still very hesitant to put her face in the water. She will blow bubbles, but she doesn't like submerging her face. She has done it a few times, and she has even gone completely underwater, but she doesn't like it much. However, she really enjoys getting in the pool, and taking baths has become a non-existent battle lately. We are unsure if we will have Rebekah take another two-week round of lessons in July or if we will wait until next summer. We are seeing that she is very tired by the week's end since she has been swimming four days each week. For now we feel like she just needs some pool time to become more comfortable putting her face in the water before she will be able to really move forward.

It is really exciting to see how much Rebekah has progressed in two weeks of swimming training. She is kicking really well, and she's blowing bubbles well also. I have been extremely pleased with her coach Ms. Sandy. It's obvious she loves what she does, and she is so encouraging. From day 1 she was having Rebekah give her high five's for every little thing she did right. I'm so glad we found a place that is giving Rebekah the tools she needs but where they understand her fears as well.

Summer Fun

The last few days it has gotten pretty hot with high's around 90 degrees. We have taken advantage of some of this warm summer weather with pool, water, and outdoor fun.









We also met up with one of Rebekah's church friends at Coolidge Park. Joshua wasn't very fond of the sprinklers, and the girls were ready to eat lunch soon after we arrived, so we didn't play in the water much. After lunch we rode the carousel.

Rebekah is excited to ride


Rebekah's friend Natalee


Joshua was not looking forward to the ride at first. In fact, he was scared...


...Until the carousel started moving.


He was hooked after that!

Rebekah earned her second sticker for SwimAmerica today.

Station 2 – Bubblers (Underwater Exploration)

Advancement Goals:
Go underwater by self
Open eyes under water
Hold breath and blow out (deck)
Blow bubbles in water

Joshua did better today in his swim class as well. He still was very clingy with me, but he's relaxing a little bit more in the pool. He's grabbing and holding the wall excellently! His upper body strength really amazes me, and I think a lot of that has to do with compensating for his low muscle tone when he was army crawling.

Another exciting milestone is that Joshua is exploding in learning his letters. Just a few weeks ago the only letter he had mastered for sure was 'O'. He now knows over half the uppercase letters and about a third of the lowercase letters. I confess I haven't worked as much with him as I did Rebekah, so she knew all her letters by this age and even how to spell her name, but Joshua is catching on quickly for learning them mostly using the Fridge Phonics and other alphabet toys. He even surprised me today by identifying the number 4. Now I'll have to see how many numbers he knows!

The Boy Makes Me Nervous

This week Joshua has started going down the front steps without holding onto the rail. Oh, it makes me so nervous because I am afraid he is going to take a tumble. It all started on my parents' front steps on Tuesday when I took Rebekah to her swim lesson. Joshua did take a tumble there, but surprisingly, he didn't cry.

Wednesday afternoon I took the kids outside, and as I walked in the front door to lay the mail on the entry table I turned back around to find Joshua almost all the way down the steps in the dead middle not holding onto the rail. My heart skipped a beat...or a few beats.


When he gets to the bottom step he really tries to jump, but he hasn't figured out jumping yet. He usually bends his knees then bounces up and steps off. He has watched Rebekah jump off the last step (she'd jump down all the steps if I let her!) so much he tries to imitate her.



Update on Rebekah's swimming: Rebekah is putting her whole face in the water some now and is becoming more comfortable with it. If I understood Ms. Sandy correctly, Rebekah could keep herself above water now, so that's vast improvement to when we started. She is kicking really well. I meant to grab my video camera and walked out the door without it yesterday, but I'll definitely get some video her last day to show how well she is swimming by the end of a two-week sesson.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Summer!

Although according to the calendar summer has not arrived, in every other sense of the word it is here. School is out, and the temps are at their highest lately at around 90 degrees. Rebekah has also begun swim lessons, or shall I say, learning to swim through SwimAmerica. Rebekah goes for 30 minutes every day, four days each week, for two weeks. I had heard great things about InfantSwim through a friend who swears by the program, but since it is not offered in our area and having heard good things about SwimAmerica as well we decided to enroll Rebekah. I was concerned there would be crying, but not one tear has been shed, and Rebekah is really enjoying her lessons. Ms. Sandy is really nice and great with kids, and I love that Rebekah is getting one-on-one attention. We had to pay extra for it, but it's been so worth it, and Rebekah doesn't have to sit on the wall while waiting for other kids to take their turn.

As a child of around seven years I took traditional swim lessons from a well-known organization of which I shall remain nameless, and I had such a horrible experience! Teenagers who didn't know how to handle my fear of the water tried to force me to jump in the pool from a little platform. I clawed my hands around the metal legs of the platform for dear life while they pried me away. As a result, I never learned how to swim, and I'm still afraid of the water to some extent. I love getting in the pool, but I stay clear of the deep end. This is a huge reason why I want my kids to learn how to swim. I'm so thankful that Rebekah is enjoying it.

Today Rebekah earned her first sticker on her chart. There are 10 levels to pass before becoming a true swimmer. They are as follows:

Station 1 Splashers - Water Adaptation
Station 2 Bubblers - Underwater Exploration
Station 3 Floaters - Front and Back Floats
Station 4 Kickers - Front and Back Kicks
Station 5 Crawlers
Station 6 Frogs - Breaststroke Arms & Kick
Station 7 Dolphins - Butterfly Kick
Station 8 Starfish - Crawl, Back, Breast, Butterfly
Station 9 Divers
Station 10 Swimmers - Advanced Starfish

Rebekah passed the following after 2 days:

Station 1 – Splashers
(Water Adaptation)

Advancement Goals:
Water adaptation
Get in pool by self
Get out of pool by self
Flutter kick holding wall
Adjustment to coach
Reaching assists
Use of Personal Flotation Devices
Throwing floating objects

The second station's main hurdle is submerging their face in the water and blowing bubbles. Rebekah will blow bubbles, but she doesn't want to put her eyes in the water, which I totally understand that fear. She did do it twice in the bathtub today, and we really cheered her for it, but then she didn't want to do it anymore. I don't want to push her, but rather encourage her. She'll get there as she becomes more comfortable, I'm sure.

Here are some photos I took the last couple of days. I didn't get great ones the first day, but here they are anyway.

Day 1 - Getting comfortable in the water


Blowing bubbles


Intro to floating on her back


Day 2 - Blowing bubbles


Kicking



Jumping in the pool (I think this is what they call "Reaching assists" b/c it was more reaching to the coach than jumping)




More kicking




Yesterday I noticed a sign advertising Mommy & Me classes for children under 3 years of age. Regular classes begin at age 3. The parent/child classes are at the same time as Rebekah's lesson on Mondays and Wednesdays. It was advertised for a price for the full month of June, and we would not be able to participate that long, but the woman over the program told me she would adjust the price for us to attend 3 classes. So, Joshua and I are going to participate while Rebekah is swimming as well. I'm looking forward to getting in the pool with Joshua. I'm sure he'll be glad too.